The effectiveness of the method for determining the level of thyroglobulin in needle washouts of fine-needle aspiration biopsy in the differential diagnosis of metastases of highly differentiated thyroid cancer in the lymph nodes of the neck

Abstract

Introduction. Thyroid cancer is one of the most common malignant neoplasms of the endocrine system. well-differentiated thyroid cancer constitutes about 90 % of all malignant tumors of the thyroid gland. Despite growing morbidity and high incidence of this pathology, in case of timely diagnosis and treatment well-differentiated thyroid cancer has favorable prognosis.Aim. using clinical examples, to demonstrate the possibility of thyroglobulin measurement in needle washouts of fineneedle aspiration biopsy in the detection of cervical metastases of highly differentiated thyroid cancer.Materials and methods. five patients (2 patients with combined oncological pathology, 2 patients with nodes in the thyroid gland, 1 patient after a thyroidectomy) with cervical adenopathy measured the level of thyroglobulin in the wash out fluid of lymph-nodes biopsy using the immunoradiometric method using the commercial kits of the Institute of Isotopes-IRmA (Hungary).Results. Cervical metastases of highly differentiated thyroid cancer were detected or excluded by the determination of fine-needle aspiration biopsy in patients with non-informational cytological studies. The determination of fineneedle aspiration biopsy is a useful diagnostic method in the differential diagnosis of cervical metastases in patients who have other morphological forms of cancer in addition to well-differentiated thyroid cancer, as well as for the differential diagnosis of cervical adenopathy in patients with a history of highly differentiated thyroid cancer.Conclusion. Determination of thyroglobulin level in puncture needle washout is a simple and useful diagnostic method for differential diagnosis of metastases in lymph nodes of the neck in patients with several morphological forms of malignant tumors.